Kenai Peninsula Borough is a borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,799, up from 55,400 in 2010. The borough seat is Soldotna, the largest city is Kenai, and the most populated community is the census-designated place of Kalifornsky.
Halibut Cove is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 76 at the 2010 census, up from 35 in 2000.
Seward is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approximately 120 miles (190 km) by road from Alaska's largest city, Anchorage.
The Kenai Peninsula is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina, who historically inhabited the area. They called the Kenai Peninsula Yaghanen.
Kenai Fjords National Park is an American national park that comprises the Harding Icefield, its outflowing glaciers, and coastal fjords and islands. The park covers an area of 669,984 acres on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska, west of the town of Seward.
The Kenai River called Kahtnu in the Dena'ina language, is the longest river in the Kenai Peninsula of southcentral Alaska. It runs 82 miles (132 km) westward from Kenai Lake in the Kenai Mountains, through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and Skilak Lake to its outlet into the Cook Inlet of the Pacific Ocean near Kenai and Soldotna.
The Sterling Highway is a 138-mile-long (222 km) state highway in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Alaska, leading from the Seward Highway at Tern Lake Junction, 90 miles (140 km) south of Anchorage, to Homer.
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about 497 mi (800 km) to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea.
The Chugach National Forest is a 6,908,540-acre (27,958 km2) United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Chugach includes extensive shorelines, glaciers, forests and rivers, much of which is untouched by roads or trails. It hosts numerous bird, mammal and marine species, including extensive shorebird habitat and a bald eagle population larger than the contiguous 48 states combined. Human industry in the forest includes extensive tourism and some mining and oil and gas operations.
Resurrection Bay, also known as Blying Sound, and Harding Gateway in its outer reaches, is a fjord on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. The bay received its name from Alexandr Baranov, who was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm in the Gulf of Alaska. When the storm settled it was Easter Sunday, so the bay and nearby Resurrection River were named in honor of it. Harding Gateway refers to the passage between Rugged and Cheval Islands.
Bear Lake is near the town of Seward and Resurrection Bay, in the Kenai Peninsula Borough on the Kenai Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is accessible from Bear Creek Road, which connects it to the Seward Highway. It is the site of salmon enhancement activities since 1962. This program is now managed by the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association. Current projects at Bear Lake focus on increasing sockeye and coho salmon by controlling species that are predators and competitors.
Caines Head State Recreation Area is a 6,571-acre (26.59 km2) recreational area encompassing the Caines Head cape in Resurrection Bay, Alaska. The area is located in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, 7 miles (11 km) south of the city of Seward. A popular tourist destination, Caines Head features spruce and hemlock forests as well as a variety of terrestrial and marine wildlife. It also features the remains of Fort McGilvray, a World War II-era fortification erected in 1941–1942 to defend against the potential invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army.
The Resurrection River is a large river on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It rises near Upper Russian Lake in the Kenai Mountains and flows 22 miles (35 km) to empty into Resurrection Bay near Seward. Part of the river passes through Kenai Fjords National Park. There has been small-scale placer mining for gold at the confluence of the river and Placer Creek.
Day Harbor is a bay on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. It received its name in 1787 from Captain Portlock, due to the fact that travel to the head of the bay from Seward typically takes 12 hours. The bay is 25 miles from Seward, and is accessible only by boat. It is a gently curving J-shaped bay separated on the west from nearby Resurrection Bay by the Resurrection Peninsula. Recreational boaters often anchor at one of the two State Marine Parks due to the often choppy seas and unstable weather of outer Day Harbor. Lesser used anchorages on the eastern shore include Anchor Cove and Bowen Anchorage. Popular activities in the bay include hiking to Ellsworth Lake at the head of the bay where the retreating Ellsworth Glacier calves.
Resurrection Peninsula is a peninsula on the larger Kenai Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies roughly 8 miles southeast of Seward. It contains very rugged geography, with very little flat land existing between sheer peaks and the deep inlets of Resurrection Bay to the west, and Day Harbor to the east. Due to the geographical nature of the peninsula, it is uninhabited, although numerous cabins, state parks, and general private in holdings exist. All land here is accessible by boat only. There is no concrete measurement of the exact of the landmass, however, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has a management area which encompasses the landmass as well as lands that are not usually considered part of a peninsula. The land which better fits the definition is roughly 10 miles long, running from near Thumb Cove and Talus Bay to Cape Resurrection at its southern extremity. Slightly less than half of the land on the Resurrection Peninsula is part of the Chugach National Forest's southern terminus.
The Fourth of July Creek is a creek on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It rises on the upper Resurrection Peninsula from various glaciers in the Chugach Mountains that drain the Sargeant Icefield and flows 5 miles (8.0 km) to empty into Resurrection Bay near Seward. Fourth of July Creek formed some time after 1850, when Godwin Glacier retreated from the shores of Resurrection Bay, uncovering the stream and the broad valley it flows through. The creek was formerly known as the Godwin River, before the aforementioned glacier split into two valleys creating a separate tributary of the waterway, today known as Godwin Creek.
Fox Island, also known as Renard Island, is an island in Resurrection Bay near Seward in the U.S. state of Alaska. The island is 3.4 miles long, two miles wide, and is primarily mountainous, consisting of 3 peaks and the saddles between them. On its east side, the remnants of a glacial moraine have created a spit. Fox Island is a popular destination for kayaking, camping, and hiking in the summer, and hosts two resorts on its shores. In addition, the island contains two state parks, Sandspit Point State Marine Park, and Sunny Cove State Marine Park.
Rugged Island is a barrier island at the mouth of Resurrection Bay near Seward in the U.S. state of Alaska. The island is 2.4 miles long, 1.7 miles wide, and is primarily mountainous, consisting of mostly steep hills, peaks and vertical cliffs. The island's curved shape wraps three quarters of the way around Rugged Island's only anchorage, a central inlet known as Mary's Bay. Rugged Island is a popular destination for kayaking, sailing, camping, and guided hikes to the abandoned fort on its shores in the summer.
Aialik Bay, also known as Dora Passage between Harbor Island and the Harris Peninsula, is a fjord on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. It has no permanent settlements, but there are two public use cabins located on the bay, one at its head and another at Holgate Arm. The Kenai Fjords lodge also hosts visitors. Aialik Bay is 33 miles south of Seward. The bay received its name from Russians recording the indigenous name as "Ayalyk Bay". It is likely that the bay once terminated at Aialik Sill, by Pedersen Lagoon prior to the year 1700. At this sill, the bay's bottom rises to less than 60 feet below sea level, and is as shallow as 18 feet deep in some places. Aialik Glacier, which has created the bay via the process of overdeepening, has since retreated by 4.5 miles.
Aialik Peninsula is a peninsula on the larger Kenai Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies roughly 15 miles southeast of Seward. The peninsula has a peculiar Swiss cheese-like shape, making it appear partially sunken. It contains very rugged geography, with its twisted and winding coastline indented by many bays and coves that are part of Aialik Bay to the west, and Resurrection Bay to the east. The peninsula is uninhabited, but private lands and beaches to anchor at and camp exist. All land here is accessible by boat only. Pony Cove, on the peninsula's eastern shore in Resurrection Bay is a popular boating and salmon fishing spot in the summers. The Aialik Peninsula is roughly 15 miles long, running from near Lechner Glacier and Bear Glacier to Aialik Cape at its southern extremity.
